


Set Fire to the Sun

by Nightwingimpulse



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Demigod AU, Dex son of Hephaestus, I am nurseydex trash, M/M, Not Beta Read, Nursey son of Apollo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-23
Updated: 2016-10-23
Packaged: 2018-08-24 02:39:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8353660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nightwingimpulse/pseuds/Nightwingimpulse
Summary: Nursey loves Dex. But he believes Dex is dating a girl from the Athena cabin. So he prays to his dad, who tells him what to do about it. Little does he know, Dex did the same thing.
Demigod AU





	

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Check Please! or the characters in it. If I did, Nurseydex would be canon and Dex would return from the war.

A bright flash of light illuminated the previously dark room, momentarily blinding Nursey. Once his eyes had adjusted, he noticed a young man before him. Blonde, blue eyes, skin tanned from too much time in the sun…too much time _being_ the sun. Apollo was leaning casually against the wall beside Nursey’s door.

“Hey son, how’s it hanging?” The god said cheerfully.

Nursey shook his head. “Dad, never ever ask your son that. It’s just weird.”

Apollo shrugged. “Noted. But seriously, Derek, what’s up?”

Nursey wrapped himself tighter in his blanket, the warmth from the fleece soothing his bare skin. “Oh, you know, hopelessly in love with a boy who probably will never love me back and we fight all the time and he’s so insufferable and stubborn and he just doesn’t shut up but he’s so fucking cute it hurts and –“

“Woah there, son, slow down.” Apollo interrupted, “I know quite a bit about unrequited love. Are you sure, one hundred percent sure, that he doesn’t like you back?”

Nursey sighed. “Yeah, dad. I’m sure. He’s got his eyes on this girl from the Athena cabin. Something about the way she can handle machinery and how they talk tech for hours on end. Why would he want me? I’m a poet. I work with words, not my hands.” He stared down at his hands, soft and smooth, evidence of his lack of hard labor.

The bed dipped as Apollo sat next to him, slinging an arm around his son’s shoulders. “I’m assuming he’s a son of Hephaestus?” Nursey nodded. “Ah. They are usually hard to court. But when you have amazing genes like us, even the most stubborn iron can be forged in the hotness of our love!”

Nursey shook his head, leaning into his father’s embrace. He was lucky. So many other campers never met their godly parents, and those that did reported the encounter as less than pleasant. Apollo was different. He made sure he was involved in his children’s lives and was there when they needed him. Right now, Nursey really needed him. “What do I do?”

“Show him how you feel. Use your words. Create something so beautiful he will feel like an idiot for not looking at you twice.” Apollo said gently, standing up and facing Nursey. “Follow your heart. Oh, and look away.”

Nurse quickly turned around, covering his face with his blanket as the bright light came again, and vanished, his father disappearing along with it. He looked around his room, at the desk covered in random passages from poems he never wrote, at the picture of him and his friends at the hockey rink the campers make when the lake freezes, at the smile on the boy he loved. Apollo was right, Nursey could do this. He knew just what to do.

 

A few hours later, Nursey was dressed and on his way to the Hephaestus cabin. He passed by other cabins, his friends calling out his name as he passed, but he didn’t stop, couldn’t stop. If he did, he would lose his resolve. He approached the cabin door and raised his hand to knock, noticing how hard it was shaking. The door swung open and he was greeted by a red haired boy raising one eyebrow at him. “What do you want?”

“Hi, Tango. Is he here?” Nursey asked hurriedly, trying to look behind the boy for a glimpse of his target.

“Who…Oh, right. Yeah he’s in his room. Head on back.” Tango stepped to the side, letting Nursey enter the cabin. Immediately, he was blasted with a wave of heat from the forge in the center of the room. How on earth anyone could live in a building this hot, he had no idea. He started down the hall, passing Tango’s open bedroom door, waving to Whiskey laying on the bed. He reached his destination, took a deep breath, and knocked.

There was a rustling from behind the door, a metal clang as something hit the floor, a whispered “fuck” from the occupant. “It’s open!” the voice called through the door. Nursey turned the knob and pushed the door open gently. The sight that greeted him would be permanently burned into his mind for all his future late night fantasies.

A glorious, jean clad ass was stuck up in the air as its owner searched under the workbench for whatever he had dropped. He stared for so long, memorizing the sight, he was surprised he didn’t burn a hole into the denim. “Ahha! Gotcha!” Nursey was startled, mortified that he had been caught. The boy sat upright, his bare back covered in old scars and soot, and proudly held a screwdriver above his head. He turned around to see who was at the door. His brown eyes lit up and his freckled face stretched in a wide smile. “Nursey!” He got to his feet and rushed forward, tackling his best friend in a tight hug.

Nursey wrapped his arms around his friend and buried his face in the crook of his neck. “Hey Dex.” He inhaled the scent of the boy’s ginger hair. He smelt of oil and grease and heat and _Dex_. He pulled away from the hug, chuckling lightly as Dex held firm. “Bro, chill. It’s only been a day!”

Dex pulled back slightly, just enough to make eye contact with Nursey. “Never tell me to chill.” Dex scolded. When they first became friends, Nursey would have believed he was seriously upset. But now, he noticed the way Dex’s eyes didn’t narrow in anger, the way he was still smiling, the way he…the way Nursey wanted to kiss those lips.

Nursey shook his head of those thoughts. “Whatever bro. Are you gonna let me go now or am I doomed to be plastered against your naked torso for all of eternity?” _Gods yes please._

Dex released his grip, his arms falling back to his side. Nursey fought back the urge to groan at the loss of contact. Instead he just smiled and walked further into the room, falling onto Dex’s bed and laying back with his arms behind his head to hide how badly his hands were shaking. He looked up at his friend, still standing in the doorway. “Are you going to move or just stand there like one of your father’s automatons?”

“First off, atomatons move.” Dex retorted, walking over to his workbench to set down the screwdriver. “And second, are you going to tell me why you’re here? Not that I’m complaining, but it is relatively early.”

Nursey furrowed his brow. Was it really that early? He looked at the bronze clock above Dex’s bed. The display read shortly after 8am. “Oh. I didn’t even realize how early it was. I didn’t sleep much last night.” Nursey shrugged. Dex looked at him with a concerned look in his eyes. “Wait, why are you up this early?”

A blush rose to Dex’s cheeks and he not-so-discreetly moved to hide his project on his workbench. “I…uh, I was working on something…”

“Oh yeah? What is it?” Nursey moved on the bed to try to get a better look.

“None of your business.”

“Tell me.”

“No.”

“Deeeeeeeeex, tell me” Nursey whined, turning on the puppy dog eyes he knew would make Dex cave.

Except Dex wouldn’t make eye contact. He just stood there, staring down at the bench. “Just drop it Derek.”

“You never call me Derek.” Nursey rose from the bed and walked towards Dex. He placed his hands on the ginger’s shoulders. “Are you okay?” Nothing. “Dex?” No response. “Dex, look at me.” He put his hand under Dex’s chin and lifted his face. Dex’s eyes were red, shifting from one side to the other and never making direct eye contact with Nursey. “Dex, please talk to me.”

“I…iwasmakingsomethingforyoubecausemydadtoldmeitwouldbethebestwaytotellyouhowIfeelaboutyoubutitsstupidandyoudontlikemeandwhywouldyouImeanImjustastupidmechanic.” Dex spoke so rapidly Nursey caught every fifth word.

“Will, calm down.” He took his hand off of Dex’s shoulder and ran it through his hair to soothe him. “Speak slower, please.”

Dex took a deep breath. “Last night, my dad visited me. I had prayed to him at dinner but I didn’t think he would show up. Anyways, he told me this story about how he tried to court my mom. He built her all sorts of equipment and trinkets. She loved them, but it was the fact that he went out of his way to make those things for her that made her love him. I didn’t understand why he was telling me that story. Until he picked up that picture of us on the lake. And he commented on how bright your smile was, how it was as bright as my mother’s. Then I realized. I was so stupid not to notice it before. I mean, damn, even my nearly absent father knew what my heart wanted and I didn’t. So I stayed up all night, building something to express my feelings.” Dex stepped to the side and Nursey finally saw what he had been hiding.

Laying on the workbench, framed by hammers and screwdrivers and wrenches, was a bronze picture frame. The edges of the frame had elegant designs. Hockey players in the midst of a heated game, pucks flying from one molder player to another. Up close, Nursey noticed that the players had the same jersey numbers as their friends. In the center of the top side, he saw the engraved figures of himself and Dex passing the puck back and forth. “Dex…this is beautiful.”

Dex leaned forward. “I still have some kinks to work out but…here.” Dex pressed Nursey’s engraved jersey number. Light beams erupted from the pucks and sticks until they formed a holographic image of the picture Hephaestus had commented on the night before. No matter how Nursey looked at it, there was always a bright outline behind him and Dex. They stood out in front of him the way they always stood out when he looked at the picture himself.

He looked towards Dex, who was staring back at him with a worried expression on his face. He shortened the distance between them, their noses pressed together. “William Poindexter, you are an idiot.”

Dex opened his mouth to respond, but never had the chance. Nursey pressed their lips together, feeling the rough lips against his. The kiss was sloppy and awkward. But it kept going. For minutes, hours, days, Nursey lost track of time. But when they pulled apart, both out of breath, he pressed their foreheads together.

“Did you really think, after all this time, that I wouldn’t love you? That when I look at that picture, I don’t stare at your smile? I came here to tell you how I feel. My dad came to me last night for the same reason as yours. But rather than build something out of bronze and metal, I built something out of words.” Nursey pulled the folded piece of paper from his pocket and set it next to the frame. A few words were legible, “Set Fire to the Sun”.

“What is it?” Dex whispered.

“A poem. Maybe not as beautiful as your frame, but every bit as full of love.”

“Can I hear it?”

“Soon. We have all the time in the world, if you’ll have me.”

“Of course I will!” Dex exclaimed as he pressed his lips to Nursey’s.

This kiss lasted a few seconds before Nursey pulled away. “Wait, what about that Athena girl?”

Dex looked at him, confused. “Who? You mean Farmer? She’s a friend. She was talking to me about making something for her to give Chowder to ask him out.”

Nursey stared blankly for a second before laughing. “Oh wow. Now who’s the idiot?”

Dex stared into his eyes, his hands on Nursey’s hips, Nursey’s hands on his back. “You. But you’re my idiot.”

**Author's Note:**

> To me, Nurseydex became apparent in the panel during Shinny where Nursey pats Dex's head and Dex just looks super adorable. So that's the basis of the picture.
> 
> Kudos and Comment!  
> Will add the poem once I write it.


End file.
